U.S. GDP Up 1.6 Percent in 4Q of 2005
February 28, 2006
U.S. gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 1.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2005, slightly better than expected.
The Commerce Department noted Tuesday that the fourth quarter’s GDP growth was far weaker than the third quarter’s 4.1 percent increase.
It attributed the weaker growth to less federal government spending, declining consumption and greater imports.
Economists had expected fourth quarter GDP to be up about 1.5 percent.
GDP is the broadest measure of an economy’s output of goods and services produced by labor and property. In the United States, it includes consumption, which is about two-thirds of GDP, plus investment, net exports, government purchases and inventories.